Prize Lectureship

Prize Lecturer 2002 - Dr Lewis Cantley

Signalling via Phosphoinositide Kinases

In April 2002, Dr Lewis Cantley, Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Signal Transduction, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, delivered Prize Lectures in Edinburgh and Dundee.

In his lectures, Dr Cantley discussed aspects of his research, which has focused on improving understanding of the biochemical pathways that regulate normal cell growth and the defects that cause cell transformation. In particular, he and colleagues have been investigating the role of a family of protein enzymes (phsophoinositide 3-kinases) in the processes controlling cell growth, survival and motility. The enzymes work at specific locations on cell membranes, initiating signalling cascades. The effects of deleting genes that encode regulatory and catalytic subunits of the proteins are now being studied, in an effort to understand the genetic basis of the signalling pathway and thus the importance of the enzyme in development, immunity and cancers.

Previous Prize Lectures have been delivered by many distinguished individuals; to view the most recent lectures, please click on the links below:

Prize Lecture 2005 : Prize Lecture 2004 : Prize Lecture 2003 : There was no Prize Lecture in 2001 : Prize Lecture 2000 : Prize Lecture 1999